Why aluminum has many scrap grades
Aluminum products use different alloys and manufacturing routes. Beverage cans, painted siding, clean sheet, extrusions, cast parts, wheels, radiators, and electrical conductor are designed for different jobs and may feed different recycling streams. A mixed pile is harder to remelt into a controlled product than a segregated alloy or product group.
The Aluminum Association notes that scrap segregated by chemical composition maintains higher value than mixed alloys and other materials. A local yard may use product-form categories as a practical way to manage that difference. Ask for its exact names, contamination limits, and preparation rules.
Common groups and identification clues
Aluminum is often light for its size and usually does not attract an ordinary magnet, but those clues are not conclusive. Stainless steel, zinc, magnesium, and nonmetal materials can confuse field identification. Known product origin, alloy markings, and the buyer's testing equipment provide stronger evidence.
Keep used beverage cans, siding or sheet, extrusions, castings, wheels, breakage, radiators, and wire separate. Within each group, look for steel screws, rubber, glass, insulation, heavy paint, oil, moisture, and mixed-metal inserts. Ask before removing valve stems, tires, bearings, or structural attachments.
- Use a magnet to locate some steel attachments, not to certify the aluminum alloy.
- Keep insulated aluminum wire away from copper wire and clean aluminum solids.
- Keep sealed, oily, refrigerant-containing, or unidentified items separate and call the yard first.
Example aluminum load calculation
Suppose the yard quotes rate E for 50 pounds of clean extrusion and rate C for 35 pounds of cast aluminum. The estimate is (50 × E) + (35 × C). Do not apply the extrusion quote to the full 85 pounds simply because both groups are aluminum.
If the material is weighed in a tote, subtract the empty tote. Keep pounds with per-pound quotes and kilograms with per-kilogram quotes. Add each grade as its own ScrapValue line and note the yard, quote time, preparation condition, and any minimum quantity.
Preparation and common mistakes
Dry storage and removal of obvious non-aluminum attachments can improve consistency when the yard recommends it. Do not melt, burn, chemically clean, or unsafely break material to test it. Aluminum dust, sharp edges, pressurized components, and unknown alloy reactions can create serious hazards.
Do not crush cans merely to chase a scrap-yard grade without checking the receiving program. Different collection and sorting systems have different preferences. For other aluminum, cutting to a prepared size only makes sense when the buyer gives a clear dimension rule and the work can be performed safely.
Preserve the grade decision
Take representative photos and record why you used each category. After the sale, save the buyer's actual grade, weight, deductions, and payout. If a wheel, casting, or extrusion group was downgraded, write down the attachment or alloy issue the buyer identified.
Over time, this evidence helps separate avoidable sorting mistakes from normal price movement. It also shows whether a preparation step improved the complete load enough to justify repeating it.
